


Loitering

by JK_Quinn



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Grillby is a nice guy, Grillby's, I guess trigger warning for hunger and poverty?, Protective Grillby, and probably the only non-smut fanfic I've written, but this is a nice story, is this too long to be a drabble?, reader is broke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-14
Updated: 2016-05-14
Packaged: 2018-06-08 06:49:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6843643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JK_Quinn/pseuds/JK_Quinn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In between jobs, you find yourself without water, power, or heat and get in the habit of spending your evenings in local businesses just to keep warm.<br/>You're cold. You're hungry. You don't want to go home. You find yourself walking into Grillby's.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Loitering

**Author's Note:**

> What even is this why even is this  
> Let me know if you think I should change the rating because I honestly wasn't sure what to rate it?  
> Mar 7 update: Edited for spelling and grammar, new chapter coming soon.

To put it simply, your power was off. And your heat. Maybe your water, too. And maybe there isn’t any food in your apartment save for a few slices of American cheese and a partial, dodgy-smelling jug of milk. You were in between work right now, picking up odd jobs for cash now and then, but you were only managing to scrape enough together to pay your rent. So for nearly a week now, you’ve been roaming the wintery streets at night in search of a new place with heat to loiter in, your social anxiety and accompanying embarrassment not allowing you to go to the same place more than once. Which is why you’ve found yourself wandering into what you’d heard less polite humans refer to as “the monster district”.

When the monsters came from the Underground and started settling, they were initially allotted unwanted and abandoned buildings and lots (making Detroit a surprisingly popular choice for monsters), so in some cases, like the winter wonderland you’ve found yourself in, there were entire neighborhoods that became monster neighborhoods. If you were being honest, you preferred the monster neighborhoods over the human ones—they tended to be kinder than their human counterparts. In fact, when you thought about it, you’d never met a monster you didn’t like. From the hyper, sentient dog people to the scary, screaming, one eyed fish woman you see running around now and then, they’ve all proved to be kind at heart.

Reflecting on this brought a vacant smile to your face as you looked at the sights about you. Snow covered the ground, but it didn’t seem to impede any of the monsters. In fact, you’ve been told the monsters had snow Underground (you've been told an entire town that was always snowy existed there!), so this was nothing new to them. Although the precipitation of said snow was quite startling to them, to say the least. As you passed by the public bath they’d built, you make a mental note to stop by there later, silently thanking the powers that be that you’d discovered it long before your water was shut off. You waved in passing at Lesser Dog, whom you’d petted many times before, as he enthusiastically worked on yet another snowdog, his tail wagging with frantic excitement. In fact, as you continued down the street, you only found more snowdogs, their necks elongated, twisting and curling further than you thought possible until meeting an abrupt end. The sight made you giggle. For the first time in a couple of days, you actually felt rather content. Of course, now that you’ve had that thought, your stomach decided to pop that little bubble and let out a low rumble, and the smile fell from your face immediately. Save for random grocery store samples and free bread from certain restaurants, you hadn’t really eaten in the past few days. You were determined to find someplace to go.

You walked in relative silence, punctuated by your frosty breaths, until you caught a scent drifting on the breeze. It smelled like hamburgers. As your mouth began to water, your legs moved on their own, following the smell to a little place with a sign that simply read “Grillby’s”. Freezing in front of the door, you think to yourself that just because it smells good doesn’t mean you’ll get any. But you take a shaky breath and step inside.

It was quite warm inside, and you noticed almost immediately that the source of that warmth was the bartender, a man literally made of fire. Probably best not to stare. You glanced around for a place to sit, hoping to find someplace off in the corner or something, but the only open table off to the side was right by Doggo. And while he isn’t a bad guy, he tends to freak you out a little sometimes, you opted instead to, embarrassingly, take an open space at the bar. You mentally cursed yourself for that decision, realizing as soon as you sat down that you likely wouldn’t be able to stay very long. Which was too bad, because it was delightfully toasty by the bar. You quickly found yourself having to take off your coat because of just how warm it was. Before you could even settle yourself, the bartender was already there in front of you. “Welcome to Grillby’s,” he said in a soft, gentle voice, his mouth scarcely moving as he spoke. “May I start you off with something to drink?” You smiled sweetly at him, flushing lightly with embarrassment. “Um, j-just water for now, thanks.” He nodded, returning the smile (although you almost didn’t notice at first), and brings you a nice glass of ice water.

Through the next couple of hours, you had a few glasses of water that you tried to make stretch as you watched everyone around you interact, engaging in chit chat with those around you, but you noticed the bartender (you now know his name is Grillby) glancing at you now and then, and you were starting to get the feeling you were going to be kicked out. While he was waiting on another customer, you quickly put on your coat and left, giving a wave to the new friends you’d made as you did, with the public bath now on your mind.

The following night, you went to a human establishment. One with sooooo many free breadsticks. You nearly stuffed yourself with them, but after almost an hour they figured out that the party you were supposedly waiting for was never coming, and booted you from the premises. It was fair enough; you were taking up space that could be used by actual customers. But that still didn’t give the hostess the right to berate you in front of the entire restaurant. You cried nearly the whole way home, and didn’t go out again for another couple of nights. If it weren’t for the cold, you probably wouldn’t have left the apartment at all. A feeling akin to shame washed over you every time the thought of wandering the streets for a place to keep warm crossed your mind, but in the end, you found yourself restless in your cold, dark apartment and set out into the night, letting your feet take you wherever they may.

And once again you find yourself in front of Grillby’s. You hesitated at the door, unsure whether it was a good idea to come in again. After a moment of pacing and deliberation, you decided that the company inside was worth the risk. Much to your delight, everyone you’d spoken to the last time you were there were, in fact, there again. Although this time you opted for the table closest the door, right by Doggo. He was yippy and twitchy as always but he, as well as the other dogs there, seemed happy to have your company. It wasn’t long, though, before you caught Grillby staring at you again, accidentally making eye contact with him before he steps out from behind the bar and starts walking towards you. You cursed under your breath, rising from your seat and trying to quickly collect your coat, but one of the dog people had gotten ahold of it and didn’t seem willing to give it back just yet. When you looked up, the flame elemental stood before you, and where you expected an angry look, he was instead giving you a patient smile.

“Leaving so soon?” he said, his voice still as gentle as you remembered from before. “You haven’t even eaten.” Flustered, you tried to tell him that you’d only stopped in for a moment to talk to someone and you weren’t really hungry anyway, but your stomach betrayed you before the lie had finished leaving your lips, letting out the loudest growl thus far this week. Hot shame washed across your face as he just continued to smile at you. “Funny, you sound pretty hungry to me. How about a burger?” At this point, you couldn’t quite look him in the eye. “I… I didn’t really bring any money with me tonight. But thank you.”

“That’s fine. On the house, then.” His words make your head snap up, looking at him curiously as your face turned a darker shade of pink. “Wh-what? Are you sure? I couldn’t. This is your business, and I don’t want to—” Grillby raises his hand to silence you, interrupting with, “You’re right; this is my business. And I will not let someone go hungry under my roof.” Stammering, you tried to protest, but he just lead you to the bar to sit, starting your food for you. Though the place still had the warm, comfortable atmosphere as before, you can’t help but feel uncomfortable in your silence on the barstool. Grillby seems to notice this and asks you your name, introducing himself formally as well, and starts making idle chitchat from you (much to the surprise of the other patrons; the bartender and restaurant owner didn’t tend to be a talkative individual). You were equal parts grateful and embarrassed, but once the food was in front of you, you decided you were more grateful than embarrassed. It smelled absolutely heavenly; your burger cooked beautifully, the French fries oddly perfect (and man, there were a lot!), the bun to freaking die for. Even the pickle wedges were fantastic, and you don’t even like pickles! Trying your best not to vocalize your pleasure with just how motherfecking good your food was (aka holding in the food moans), you scarfed down the food quite quickly, happy to finally have food in you again. You were so engrossed in the burger that you didn’t notice that Grillby was still watching you.

Grillby was just glad that you were okay. It didn’t take long for him to realize why you’d come in the first time, but you disappeared before he’d had the chance to offer you anything. When you didn’t come back, he cursed himself for waiting. But he knew some people take offense to such charity and wanted to be sure you weren’t the type to start a scene in his bar. He smiled at the sight of you eating so enthusiastically and began to wonder, and not for the first time, whether you even had a warm place to sleep.

When you finally look up from your empty plate, the burning man behind the bar was still watching you, and you found yourself blushing again. “S-sorry.” You mumbled, wiping your mouth with a napkin. “I must have looked like a sloppy mess.” He just chuckled; at least, it sounded like a chuckle, punctuated with the sound of popping and cracking like a burning log. "Not a problem at all,” he assured you, and you could hear the smile in his voice. “That good?” You nodded sheepishly. “Wanna know the secret?” You nodded enthusiastically, finally smiling back at him. He leaned in conspiratorially, gesturing at you to do the same. When you did, he mock-whispered to you, “It’s all about the grill. An old, well-seasoned grill will make much tastier burgers than a new, clean grill.” At this, you giggled, seeing the monster literally glow with pride. This was clearly his dream, his passion, and it made you grin.

After a moment, he straightened up again, brushing nonexistent dirt from his vest and directing his vague smile at you again. “Care for more?” he asked, “Oh, no! Thank you, but I couldn’t eat another bite. Really.” Was your content response as he brought you more water. Grillby lets out a hum. “If you’re sure…”

As time went by, there were less people in the bar and, eventually, you ended up deciding you wanted more fries, and he happily obliged.

“So,” he wondered as you started to dig into your fresh plate. “What do you do for a living, y/n?” You froze for a moment, swallowing the food still in your mouth. Hesitantly, you told him you were unemployed at the moment. And after some time talking to him, you grew to trust the burning bartender, and admitted your situation to him later in the night. By then, there were only a few monsters still there, making it much easier for you to get out. While Grillby isn’t a very expressive man, you could see the concern written on his face. He knew you didn’t quite make heat the way he does, and wondered to himself how you could even sleep at night in your cold apartment. Or if you even slept.

“Do you have any experience in waitressing?” He asked suddenly, taking you by surprise and making you choke on your fries for a moment. “Wait, what?” you managed once you’d coughed up all the bits of potato. This time it was Grillby’s turn to turn a different color; his face flushed a bluish hue. “Waitressing. I could always use a little help around here, if you’re willing to take the job.”

At this, you nearly leapt over the bar to hug the man, stopping yourself only because you’re not quite sure if he’s safe to touch? Besides, with you now crying, blubbering out a flurry of “thank you”s, you weren’t sure if it’d be safe for him. Wouldn’t be good to cry your new boss’s flame out before you even get to start working.

**Author's Note:**

> Literally just wrote this just to get out my headcanon of Grillby having an old, well-seasoned grill lol  
> Inspired by the bar my mom's been going to since the late 70's that makes the best freaking burgers you'll ever have.
> 
> Let me know if you think I should change the rating because I honestly wasn't sure what to rate it  
> 


End file.
